Best of the Bunch: The Trials – Sweden

Through our Best of the Bunch series, we gave a recap on the Eurovision entries from 2006 to 2015 and gave you the opportunity to choose your Best of the Bunch. As you may remember, the current Best of the Bunch winners were put into our ‘Ultimate Eurovision’ but it’s time to see which of the latest three entries have remained as your favourites! In our Best of the Bunch: The Trials series, we are going to recap the entries from a certain nation starting with 2016 and continuing through to the latest Eurovision season of 2018. Your job is to simply enjoy the music, and vote for your Best of the Bunch winner!

Today we are putting our focus on a nation that has had quite a bit of success over the last few years including two wins! We are of course talking about Sweden who are getting close to overtaking the record for the most wins at the contest, with the current leader being Ireland. Since their win in 1999, Sweden were going from strength to strength at the contest peaking from 2011 onwards, with most of the results slotting into the Top 5. Today, however, we will only be looking at the latest three entries, starting with 2016 and concluding with 2018. After we recap the entries, it will be up to you to decide your Best of the Bunch!

Sweden 2016

We are starting today with a defending entry, as in the previous year, Sweden had won the contest with the song Heroes. Through their iconic national selection, Melodifestivalen, Frans was chosen with the song If I Were Sorry. Compared to their winning song the previous year, their 2016 entry was definitely more subdued in both musical style and performance, but it seemed to be a hit among the fans. The results reflected this popularity too, with Sweden finishing in 5th place with 261 points.

Sweden 2017

The following year, Sweden once again shook things up with an epic pop number. The song is called I Can’t Go On, and was performed by Robin Bengtsson who was also chosen through the popular national final format Melodifestivalen. There’s always room for a catchy pop number, and no one knows catchy pop like Sweden! The song was a fantastic opener for the first semi-final, and voters agreed as the song qualified into the final at 3rd place. In the final, their results were also commendable, finishing in 5th place once again with 344 points.

Sweden 2018

That brings us to the most recent Swedish entry, which, as you guessed it, was chosen through Melodifestivalen! After an attempt the previous year, Benjamin Ingrosso returned and from early on it was clear that he was a strong favourite to take out the national competition. As we know, he did go on to represent Sweden at Eurovision with his pop number Dance You Off which received mixed reviews from fans. At Eurovision, a revolutionary stage performance was one of the most impressive we’ve seen, but unfortunately the song only captured the attention of the juries. Still, the song qualified into the final at 2nd, and in the final, thanks to strong support from the jury, the entry finished in 7th place with 274 points.

So now you’ve seen all three performances, it’s time to vote for your Best of the Bunch!